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The massacre, took place in a base in the capital Dhaka, where it is understood the unit had gone to be given an award, and evolved into a day-long siege as other government troops surrounded the area. Nearly 100 bodies had been found yesterday, amid reports that 137 were still missing after the massacre.

As more details emerged, it became clear that victims had suffered before death. Some had been bayoneted and tortured, bodies were burned, and the wife of one senior officer was reportedly raped before being hurled from a rooftop. Some officers survived by hiding in sewers.

The mutineers had complained that they had poor food and pay and had suffered bullying from the officers, and unlike army regulars were not allowed to take part in lucrative United Nations peacekeeping missions.

But there was no clear explanation for the scale and ferocity of the massacre, which appears unlikely to have been sparked purely by complaints over pay or conditions. It was the worst loss of life in the history of the officer corps.

Yesterday army officers vented anger against prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who heads a government which was only elected in December. She negotiated a surrender with the mutineers after surrounding their base with tanks instead of crushing them.

Servicemen chased politicians from the funeral of one officer as emotions ran high.

About 300 mutineers remained under armed guard in a barracks last night, although some reports suggested as many as 1,000 may have taken place in the uprising.

Just hours after the sound of gunfire had died down in Dhaka, army chiefs met the prime minister to assure her that no new coup would be launched.

Bangladesh has a long history of coups and the army has only recently stepped down from power.

Sheikh Hasina was taking a tougher line, promising "severe punishment" as the scale of the massacre became clear.

Lt Gen M A Mubin, the army's second-in-command, said in a television address: "The BDR troops who took part in these barbaric and grisly acts cannot be pardoned and will not be pardoned.

"They will be given exemplary and quick punishment by a special tribunal. The martyrs will be buried with state honours."

Bangladesh has a long history of political instability, with a coup and an Islamist terrorist campaign in the last three years. Fears of more political turmoil have grown in the last year as food prices have increased, pushing millions below the poverty line.